Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	behold_v	chief_a	zion_n	94	3	8.7859	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69777	The intercourses of divine love betwixt Christ and his Church, or, The particular believing soul metaphorically expressed by Solomon in the first chapter of the Canticles, or song of songs : opened and applied in several sermons, upon that whole chapter : in which the excellencies of Christ, the yernings of his gospels towards believers, under various circumstances, the workings of their hearts towards, and in, communion with him, with many other gospel propositions of great import to souls, are handles / by John Collinges ...	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.	1683 (1683)	Wing C5324; ESTC R16693	839,627	984

it are buried up in ruines It is the Word of God that is the Basis of the Church and the Basis of every individual Soul that is a Member of that Church 3. The Beams and Rafters of an House as they support the burthen and bear the weight of the Building so they also unite the parts and sides of it they are the Mediums of Union to it so is the Word and Ordinances to the Church The Word is the Foundation upon which the Church and every particular Soul is builded and the Doctrine of Faith and the Ordinances of God are the means of Union in it I do not think that an Explicit Covenant-Union is necessary to the constitution of a Church I think that Union which the whole Church hath in the Profession of the same Doctrine of Faith and in the practice of the same Ordinances Rules of Worship is sufficient to make up such an Union amongst all Gospel Professors as may justifie the denomination of a Catholick Church And again an agreement in the Profession of the same Faith and the practice of the same Ordinances in the same place is enough to make up a particular Church of God Look as in a Building let the walls be at never so many foot distance one from another yet the beams or dormans that go across the Building unite them together and make them all but one and the same Building So it is with the whole number of Professors scattered over the face of the whole Earth though part of them be in England part in France part in Germany part in other parts of the World yet the same Doctrine and Profession of Faith and the practice of the same Ordinances of Worship running through them all makes the whole but one Body one Church the House of the Living God 4. Look as it is with the Beams and Rafters the purer and stronger and more substantial they are and the more intire and homogeneous they are the stronger the House is So it is as to the Word and Ordinances of God the purer the Doctrine of Faith and Ordinances for Worship are the stronger and better the Church is If the Beams of an House be sappy or rotten or patched up of several heterogeneous pieces the weaker the House is and more subject to fall and to decay So it is with the Church which is the House of the Living God If the Doctrine of Faith owned and professed in it be as it were heart of Oke pure Doctrine taken out of the heart of the Written Word not sappy through the additions of Humane Inventions nor heterogeneous part of it the pure Word of God part of it the meer Fancies and Doctrines of men if the Ordinances for Worship practised in it be pure Ordinances if the Tabernacle be according to the Pattern of the Mount according to the form of sound words and pure Rule of the Gospel the Church is fair and glorious and strong the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it but if otherwise if the Doctrine of Faith professed in it be mingled with the Clay of Humane Fancies and Errours if the Ordinances of Worship practised in it be full of the sap of Traditions and Ceremonies the Church is a declining decaying Church and hath no strength in her The reason is because God will not continue with such a Church The Psalmist saith of the Church God is in the midst of her therefore she shall not fall now they must be golden Candlesticks in the midst of which God walketh But thus much may be sufficient to shew you the propriety of the Metaphor Let me shortly Apply this before I pass on to the other Proposition This in the first place commends unto us the Excellency of the Word of God and the Doctrine of Faith contained in it and the Excellency of Gospel Ordinances they are the Beams and Rafters of the House of God hewed out framed and fitted to the Building by him who was the Master-builder the Lord Jesus Christ and laid by him The Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 10 11. saith that as a wise Master-builder he had laid the Foundation and another builded thereon v. 11. Other Foundation could no man lay than that already laid which is Jesus Christ Christ is called the Church's Fundamentum its Foundation and he is the lapis angularis the corner stone as is contained in the Scripture Saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 2. 6. Behold I lay in Zion a chief corner stone ele●t and precious the head of the body Col. 1. 18. He from whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part Eph. 4. 16. Our Divines say that Christ is the Foundation of the Church in a double sense 1. He is Fundamentum Salutis the Foundation of Salvation in the Church The Salvation of every Soul lieth upon his shoulders Act. 4. 12. Neither is there Salvation in any other 2. He is Fundamentum Fidei Cultus the Foundation of Faith and Doctrine of Worship and Order the Foundation of Doctrine and Ordinances I say And as no man can lay any other Foundation of Salvation than Christ so neither can any lay any other Beams of Doctrine or Institutions for Worship but what Jesus Christ hath laid Christ by himself and by his Apostles laid these Foundations and Beams of Doctrine and Worship from the Gospel of Christ and the Writings of the Apostles must be drawn the Articles for the first and the Canons for the latter And the whole Building of the Church depends upon these Foundations and Beams Let the Word of Faith or the Purity of Worship fail from the Church or any part thereof it presently ceaseth to be a Church of God and turns into an Antichristian Synagogue Now I say this commends to every Christian the Doctrine of Faith and the Ordinances of God There is an Excellency in Entity or Being Hence whatsoever it be which gives Being to a thing and without which it would not be at least not such hath a great Excellency in it and the more noble the thing is to which Being is given the more Excellent is the Form by which it hath such Being The Soul of man gives Being to a man The Body without the Soul is but a lump of flesh a piece of Clay the Soul informeth and inliveneth and giveth an Humane Being to it separate that from it and the man is no more Some Philosophers have vainly dreamed of an Amma Mundi a general Soul of the World which should give Form Life Motion to every part of the World Now as the Soul of a man is more excellent than any Souls of Beasts because it is the Principle of a more Noble Being so doubtless if there were any such Universal Soul which gave Life Being Motion Form Union to all the World it would be a more excellent substance than any

Whispers to this sense a believer often heareth from the Devil from the men of the world and from his own heart also Solomon Personating the true Church every true believer fancieth the voice of these Spiritual adversaries in his Ears nor is there any Child of God but heareth it at some time or other The spouse therefore preoccupieth this objection by this Apostrophe O you daughters of Hierusalem I am black but comely like the tents of Kedar like the Curtains of Solomon You daughters of Hierusalem Hierusalem is an Hebrew word and signifieth The Vision of Peace or They shall see Peace it is to be considered in its Political Ecclesiastical and Typical notion 1. In its Political Notion it signifieth the Metropolis or chief City of Judea a City supposed to have been builded by Melchizedeck and by him called Salem he is called the King of Salem Gen. 14. 8. Heb. 7. 1. 2. Salem in Scripture is put for Herusalem In Salem is God known Psal 76. 2. It was afterwards for some hundreds of years in the possession of the Canaanites Adonizedek was the King of it Josh 10 3. who was conquered and slain by Joshua Josh 10. 26. the Jebusites afterward lived there in common with the Benjamites who did not drive them out Jud. 1. 21. David smo●e these Jebusites 2 Sam. 5. 7 8. and took the strong hold of Zion made it his City It was scituated amongst the Mountains hence you read of the mountains being round about Hierusalem Psal 125. 2. Yet the habitable part of it was in the Valley Jer 21. 13. Now if we take Hierusalem in this notion here the Daughters of Hierusalem are the Inhabitants of this famous City 2. But there is an Ecclesiastical Notion of it so it signifiyeth the Jewish Church Hierusalem was the place where the Temple stood where was the most folemn Worship of God thither all the males of the Israelites went up thrice a year to Worship God There lived the High Priest in that place alone in their setled state they were to Sacrifice Hence Zion a City contiguous to this City the City of David and Hierusalem are often in Scripture put for the Jewish Church hence the Psalmist praying for the prosperity and restauration of the Church of the Jews Prays in this aialect Build thou up the walls of Hierusalem So Psal 102. verse 23. to declare the name of the Lord in Sion and his praise in Hierusalem that is in the Jewish Church In this sense the Daughters of Hierusalem are the members of the Jewish Church 3. But there is yet a further Typical Notion of it So it signifieth the Church of God both that part which is in Heaven Triumphant called the mother of us all which is called the New Hierusalem Rev. 3. 12. ch 21. verse 2 c. or that part of it which under the Gospel is still militant on earth Zech. 8. 22. Thus the Daughters of Hierusalem are the Members of the visible Church you may take it in either notion either thus O my neighbours you people amongst whom I dwell or O you that are members of the same Church of God with me Brethren are too ready to censure and upbraid one another Aaron and Miriam spake against Moses Num 12. 2. David complaineth that he was an alien to his mother's Children Psal 69. 8. and in the next words the Spouse saith my mothers Children were angry with me To these she saith I am black but comely how the Church of God or the particular Souls in it are Black I shall have occasion more fully to shew you hereafter Every one will understand she speaketh in a figure and intends not the black colour of the flesh but some condition fitly enough represented and expressed by a blackness of colour But comely There is no contradiction in that There is a comeliness in some blackness The Black Eye is comely so is the black marble But I reserve a further and larger discourse concerning the spouses blackness and comeliness till I come to the Propositions of Doctrine I intend to discourse from the words but what is the meaning of the follow phrase As the tents of Kedar as the Curtains of Solomon They are certainly two similitudes which the Spouse brings elegantly to set forth what she had said either concerning her blackness or concerning her beauty and comeliness Only the question is whether the sense be this I am black like the tents of Kedar and like the Curtains of Solomon but I am also like them comely also Or thus I am I confess black like the Tents of Kedar but I am also comely like the Curtains of Solomon The letter pleaseth me best because we read nothing of any black Curtains that Solomon made for the Temple and it is most likely he kept the colours of the Curtains of the Tabernacle which were Blue Purple and Scarlet Redar was one of the Sons of Ishmael as you read Gen. 25. 13. It is probable that he did build some City in Arabia which as was very usual he called after his owne name We shall read that in the Prophecy of Isaiah against Arabia Isaiah 21. 17. he hath this expression The mighty men of the Children of Kedar shall be deminished And in the Prophecy of the Gentiles coming in to Christ Isaiah 60. 7. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered unto thee and the Rams of Nebujoth You read of it also Jer. 2. 20. and Jer 49. 28. and Zech. 27. 21. Arabia and all the Princes of Kedar Keder then was either a City or a Province of Arabia which was a very hot Country they had at that time generally no such fixed houses nor such wayes of covering their habitations as we have They did generally live in Tents which were moveable places of habitation these were ordinarily covered with the Skins of beasts which they killed for their uses That kind of covering as you know in Countreys where the Sun is very hot is apt to tan into a very lothsome and unlovely colour To these the Spouse compares her self I am black like the tents of Kedar Like the Curtains of Solomon This I take to relate to the latter part of the Spouses words Solomon made Curtains for the Temple and it is very likely they were made in Proportion to those which were made by Gods Prescription for the Tabernacle Exod 36. 8. of fine twined Linnen Blue Purple and Scarlet with Cherubims of cunning works the Spouse compareth her self to these for comeliness Look not upon me because I am black That is you Daughters of Hierusalem look not upon me The Chaldee Paraphrast maketh this the voice of the Jewish Church speaking to the Heathens thus O you Heathen Nations do not despsse me because I have made my self blacker then you by doing after your deeds Worshipping the Sun Moon and all the host of Heaven false Prophets have made me to err after your ways by which means the wrath of the Lord is

Christ having both a fellowship with the death of Christ in dying to sin and with the life of Christ in living unto newness of life Upon these accounts and these only is the Believing Soul fair in the Eyes of Christ Before I part with this Observation Let every gracious Soul make a stand upon it and consider what it affords him for Consolation while he looks over his Soul and sees it full of spots and taking a review of his life he can find no ground of hope to his Soul that Christ should cast an Eye of love and pity upon him he sees there 's no proportion between his duties or any actions of his conversation and the holy Law of God Well yet the comfort lies here that the Lord hath not said Blessed is the man that hath no sin for who liveth and sinneth not against God but Blessed is he whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered and to whom the Lord imputeth no sin Psal 32. 1. If we once lose this great Truth of the Justification of a poor Soul by the Righteousness of Christ we have cut up a Bridge which we shall see a need of to go over as often as we enter into any serious thoughts of our own state the weight of all our Souls and all the comfort of them hangs upon this one pin That what the law could not do because it was weak through our flesh that God hath done sending his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for fin condemning fin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us We have lost all that day that we forsake that desire of St. Paul to be found in Christ not having our own righteousness which is of the law but that which is of God Even the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ But you will say How shall we know that Christ hath thus loved us That must be known by our loving him and so the matter will return to the same point We freely grant that our Justification is to be evidenced for our Sanctification and that even the witness of Gods Spirit is not a single but a joint Testimony together with our Spirits But yet there is a great difference as to Christians comfort in these things That Soul that looks to be made fair with his own works if he rightly understand himself shall never be Satisfied concerning his Spiritual beauty because his works must necessarily be compleatly perfect otherwise the law accuseth and curseth him But he who acknowledgeth that his beauty is meerly from grace freely justifying but yet his receiving of this grace is to be evidenced by his works stands concerned no further to enquire concerning the perfection of his works in order to this end then only to see if they be perfect according to Gospel allowances not according to lawstrictness And such are the Gospel terms that if there be a willing mind a presence to will a delight in the Law of God as to the inward man it is accepted of God Here 's a bottom for him I proceed to the 4th Circumstance which I observed relating to the first Proposition of the Text and that was the term Behold which is prefixed Behold thou art fair and doubled Behold Behold There is a threefold use of this particle in Scripture it denotes 1. presence of a thing 2. Certainty 3. Eminency It may in this Text denote all three 1. It may denote the present state of a believing Soul to be a beautiful state Behold thou art fair now in this life while thou art black with infirmities and corruptions black through afflictions and temptations yet even now thou art fair 1 Joh 3. 2. Beloved Now we are the Sons of God It doth not yet appear what we shall be This particle is often thus used in holy Writ Gen. 29. 2 25. and it is capable enough of this sense in this Text. Behold thou art fair thou shalt not only be hereafter beautiful when the Crown of glory shall be set upon thy head but thou art now beautiful thou doest not apprehend thy self so thou art bewailing thy spots and thy infirmities but I look upon thee as fair with all thy spots I look upon thee as beautiful even now 2. It denotes the certainty of a thing Behold is a particle of Demonstration and is often so used in Scripture There is nothing more certain then what we can behold Thus the particle is used Gen. 16. 2. Behold now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing they are the words of Sarah that is the Lord hath certainly restrained me see Gen. 18. 27. The believing Soul is certainly a beauteous Soul The Beauty of that Soul which truly believes in Jesus Christ is not an imaginary thing it is a true and real thing it is a certainty's Behold thou art fair c. 3. Lastly this particle Behold doth very often denote eminency and excellency When something is wonderful in Nature or otherwise the Scripture useth to make mention of it by prefixing this particle Behold to it So James 3. 3 4. It is a wonderful thing that the strength of an Horse should be ruled by a bit and that so great a bulk as a ship driven about with fierce winds should be turned about with a very small helm and thus it is a very often used in Scripture and it may have that use here Behold thou art fair My Love Behold thou art fair and so it may hint to us these two things 1. That the beauty of a believer is no ordinary beauty but a rare and eminent beauty not like the beauty of Woman not like that vain thing which we call beauty in a natural fense which is only the object of the lust of the Eye no it is a Spiritual beauty which age will not deface diseases will not spoil no outward accidents will hurt a beauty that is not exposed to wind and weather The Kings Daughter is all glorious within and yet so great is her glory that the King of Kings desires her beauty Or secondly it may denote this 2. That it is a wonderful thing that Christ should account a Child of Adam a poor believing Soul beauteous When David considered the Heavens and the Earth he cries out What is man O Lord that thou shouldest remember him or the Son of man that thou shouldest be mindful of him It is a matter of high admiration to any ingenuous Soul to sit down and think that Jesus Christ should account it beautiful But I hasten to the last Circumstance I observed to you that the phrase is doubled Christ doth not only say thou art fair my Love but he doubles the phrase Thou art fair thou art fair There is doubtless nothing superfluous in holy Writ though possibly there may be something both in the matter and stile of which we can give no Satisfactory account almost in all languages these repetitions and

brought in thus speaking How beautiful is the glory of thy Holiness while thou dwellest amongst us and freely hearest our prayers whiles thou abidest in our beloved Bed our Children are multiplied upon the Earth we increase and multiply like a Tree planted by the Rivers of water whose Leaf is beautiful and its Fruit much But I have all along observed too great a fondness in that Reverend Interpreter to apply all spoken in this Song to the Jewish Synagogue because once she was the only Beloved of God not attending this as a Prophecy concerning also such as should be received into Divine favour when God should have said to his Antient People Loammi you are not my People We have therefore by the Spouse here all along understood the Church of God in all times and more particularly believing Souls which are here brought in thus speaking to Christ Behold thou art fair my Beloved yea pleasant Also our Bed is green The words in our English Translation are punctually translated Nor is there any considerable difference amongst Interpreters rendring them in their several Versions We shall therefore fall immediately to consider the sense of the words as they lie before us which are a Reply unto what Christ had said v. 15. He had told the believing Soul that she was fair she was was fair she had Doves Eyes She now replys in the words of the Text Behold thou art fair my Beloved yea pleasant also our Bed is green Where you have 1. Her usual friendly Compellation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Beloved my Love my Nephew my Uncle my Kinsman I gave you an account of the significancy of that word before 2. A note of Attention or Admiration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold I shewed you in my Discourses on the 16th verse the usage of that particle in Scripture 3. A double Assertion 1. Thou art fair to which she adds yea pleasant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. The second in those words Our Bed is green He had told the Spouse v. 16. that she was fair she now replies Behold thou art fair my Beloved Pulchritudo ejus dilectio ejus saith Bernard His love to his Spouse is his beauty Et ideo major quia praeveniens which is so much the greater because it prevents us And saith he she therefore loves more because she discerns her self prevented and overcome in Love It is as much as if she had said Doth my dearest Saviour say I am fair who am by Birth an Ethiopian black with original corruption and upon whom the Sun hath lookt Nay My Beloved thou art much more fair Let the World be invited to behold thy Beauty Behold thou art fair my Love Observe Prop. 1. The Beauty of our Saviour doth infinitely transcend the Beauty of his Saints Prop. 2. The sense of the value which Christ puts upon his Saints will and ought to engage them to put an high value upon him Give me leave to speak something to the first of these Propositions before I pass on to the other words of the Text. I begin with the first Prop. 1. Christ's Beauty doth infinitely transcend the Beauty of his Saints The Saints are Stars and there is not the least Star but hath its lustre and glory but yet there is a difference of Stars in glory and the glory of the Sun of Righteousness of the Star that came out of Jacob is far more eminent than the Beauty of other Stars which are set in inferiour Orbs. Pulchritudo est qualitas per quam aliquid pulchrum est Beauty is a quality from which any thing is made beautiful That is beautiful which is lovely Pulcher quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or quod pollet charitate There is a corporeal Beauty and there is a mental Beauty the corporeal Beauty is nothing else besides a certain loveliness that ariseth from a due proportion of bodily parts and due temperament of humours and a comely bodily figure The mental Beauty is a loveliness which ariseth from a well tempered Soul adorned with good natural dispositions moral habits or spiritual infused habits of Graces When I speak of the Saints Beauty and of Christ's Beauty I understand it of a spiritual loveliness in them arising from that Grace which dwelled in Christ essentially as God and was poured out upon-him without measure as Mediator and is derived from him to all that truly believe in him Now I say this Beauty in Christ doth infinitely transcend that of the Saints I will shew it you in some few particulars which you may gather from what I said before concerning the Saints Beauty I shewed you that the Saints Beauty was not native and primitive but derivative not essential but accidental not perfect but imperfect I told you that it was indeed durable but yet the degrees of it might fade Let me now open to you the transcendent Excellencies of Christ's Beauty 1. And more generally It is a glorious incomprehensible and most incomparable Beauty When the Word was made flesh and came and dwelt amongst the Sons of men they beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1. 14. In all created Beauties there is not equality There are some faces more beautiful and some minds more beautiful and lovely than others which yet have their loveliness too Beauty is a quality which is capable of degrees There is a glory in Christ's Beauty which is not to be found in the Beauty of any Saint The Apostle tells us that the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily And the Evangelist that his glory was like the glory of the only begotten Son of God he was full of Grace and Truth Now if you ask me what this glory is what Tongue is able to express it Every one sees a glory in the Sun 's Light excelling the glory of the Stars but wherein the Excellency is more than in the fulness of the Light none is able to determine Here it is true which the Vulgar Latine makes the sense of Prov. 25. 27. Qui scrutatur Majestatem opprimetur à gloria While the Soul sets it self to fathom the transcendent Divine Excellencies that are in Christ it is overcome with glory as the Eye is with the Light of the Sun that looks too wistly upon it as the Boy that appeared to the Auncient who had promised his People to open to them the Doctrine of the Trinity unlading water out of the Sea into a little hole with a Spoon and told him that he should sooner have done that work than he would have opened the Doctrine of the Trinity So I may say in this case Christ is every way wonderful The Prophet concerning his Birth cries out Who shall declare his Generation I may here cry out Who shall declare his glory Thus much we can say that his Beauty is extensively and intensively more than that of the most eminent Saint in the World that it